[0:10] like to call the meeting of February
[0:12] 10th, 2026 to order at 11:02.
[0:17] First first thing is the review improve
[0:20] the minutes from January 2nd or January
[0:23] 7th.
[0:25] >> Move to approve.
[0:26] >> I'll second it. All in favor? I
[0:30] do. We do anything with Henry's vote. Is
[0:33] it like two steps? Okay.
[0:34] >> So, it's just two.
[0:36] >> Um,
[0:37] you're next or do you want to
[0:39] >> I can just quickly talk about 26. So,
[0:42] uh, 14 warrants were signed
[0:43] electronically since the last meeting
[0:45] totaling $100,685.86.
[0:50] The only item that I want to mention um
[0:53] that I'm keeping an eye on is the
[0:55] utility bill here in the building. So,
[0:58] um, delivery charges are up for
[1:01] Eversource and our supply usage is also
[1:04] up, which we think is probably
[1:06] attributed to the mini splits. So, the
[1:08] combination of those two things has our
[1:09] bills presenting significantly higher
[1:11] than prior years. So, I'm just watching
[1:14] the budget to make sure we're going to
[1:15] have adequate funds to take care of
[1:16] that.
[1:18] >> Piggy bank.
[1:19] Yeah.
[1:21] >> Do we use the mini splits for heat?
[1:24] >> No, we're using the building heat.
[1:26] >> Okay. it.
[1:27] >> I didn't know if somebody got cold at
[1:29] >> Well, there have been
[1:30] >> times
[1:31] >> the way that the heat works, that wind
[1:33] gets good heat and that wind does not.
[1:35] So, there may have been some of those
[1:37] colder mornings where one of the
[1:38] classrooms down there put on the the
[1:40] heat as a as a supplement.
[1:43] >> That's why
[1:44] >> and you can see in the kilowatts used
[1:46] when we look at the um data like you
[1:49] know late August, September, October the
[1:52] kilowatt usage was higher. November it
[1:54] drops down because we weren't running
[1:55] mini splits, right? So no AC was needed
[1:57] in November. So you can see that
[1:59] significant drop. Um
[2:02] and I think the other side of it is
[2:04] delivery charges are just way up. I mean
[2:06] I've looked at the bills. We're locked
[2:08] into our kilowatt hours or um cost
[2:11] because we contract. So we put that out
[2:13] to bid, but we can't control the
[2:15] delivery fees. So those are regulated by
[2:18] the state and the feds and Eversource
[2:20] can make changes.
[2:21] >> What is the uh I didn't think about this
[2:23] ask you earlier, but the gas
[2:26] Is gas gone up or down?
[2:28] >> Um, so
[2:29] >> I know the price is I know the price is
[2:30] going to go up eventually, but the the
[2:32] usage because one of the other thing
[2:34] about the mini splits is is that we can
[2:35] run them through October without firing
[2:37] up the boiler.
[2:38] >> Right.
[2:38] >> So, I didn't know if any of that was
[2:39] occurring.
[2:40] >> I haven't looked at
[2:42] >> that. Okay.
[2:42] >> The gas consumption here
[2:45] >> um to see if we're down at all. I'll put
[2:47] it on the list of things to take a peek
[2:49] at. We are locked into a rate for that
[2:51] as well, so at least the rate won't
[2:53] fluctuate.
[2:54] Um, but I can look and see what
[2:56] >> because part of the problem was that we
[2:57] have to fire up the boiler on the cold
[2:59] October days and then by mid morning
[3:00] it's warm outside and then you got to
[3:02] open up the windows. The boiler's been
[3:03] boiling all day long. So hopefully that
[3:05] you we're trying to move away from that.
[3:07] >> I'll take a look and see. Maybe the gas
[3:08] is down and the electricity's up and you
[3:11] know they'll somewhat offset each other
[3:12] but
[3:13] >> no but I saw western mass gas was going
[3:16] to go up 23% or something like that so
[3:18] next year. So everybody's fighting for
[3:20] that.
[3:21] >> Yeah.
[3:22] >> Terrible.
[3:24] I'll let you continue.
[3:25] >> No, that was all that I had. I just
[3:26] wanted to make you aware that I was
[3:28] keeping an eye an eye on that expensive
[3:31] house.
[3:31] >> Okay. Principal's report.
[3:34] >> Um,
[3:34] >> since last month.
[3:35] >> Sure. Not a whole lot. We had I had
[3:38] spoken about the Mass Cultural Council
[3:40] grant that we had gotten to bring
[3:41] Playful Engineers here. Um, so the the
[3:46] man who runs Playful Engineers is Jay
[3:48] Manita and he was here for about two
[3:50] weeks. Um and every class had two
[3:52] sessions, either the morning session or
[3:55] the afternoon session. Um and they
[3:58] received a little instruction um all
[4:02] things mechanical and then they were set
[4:04] loose to sort of build um artful
[4:08] mechanisms is what it was called. They
[4:09] had kids had a good time and it was a
[4:11] good thing to have in January when we
[4:14] had several days when we couldn't go
[4:17] outside. Um,
[4:19] on January 2nd, I took all the students
[4:22] kindergarten through grade six up to
[4:24] Jaduk to see the performance of Frozen
[4:28] Jr. This was the first time bringing the
[4:30] whole school. I wasn't sure how the
[4:32] fifth and sixth graders would um
[4:35] >> behave.
[4:36] >> Well, no, not behave. They they were
[4:38] great. Everyone was great. Just I didn't
[4:40] know if seeing Frozen would be kind of a
[4:43] bummer for them, but um they seem to
[4:45] enjoy it like from the
[4:47] performance perspective and there's a
[4:49] fifth grader who was in it. So,
[4:50] >> Oh, wow.
[4:51] >> that helped too.
[4:52] >> Wow. Where did you go for that?
[4:53] >> Um, Jaduk Performing Arts Center.
[4:55] >> Okay.
[4:56] >> Um, and because I felt horrible that I
[4:59] was bringing kindergarten through sixth
[5:01] grade and leaving the preschoolers
[5:02] behind, um, it's difficult to take them
[5:04] on field trips because we get into
[5:06] transportation issue and car seats and
[5:07] all that. So, I brought a puppet show
[5:09] into to school. So, Talking Heads
[5:11] Theater came and put on a puppet show
[5:13] for them here in the library.
[5:15] >> Nice. Um, and lastly, I want to thank
[5:17] Garrett Barry and his team at the
[5:19] Wheatley Highway Department for donating
[5:21] their time to build a sledding hill for
[5:22] our kids in the in the field across the
[5:25] island.
[5:25] >> That was pretty cool.
[5:26] >> Yeah,
[5:27] >> the kids were up there when I when I
[5:29] pulled in there. They were up there
[5:30] playing.
[5:31] >> Yeah, we don't have a whole lot in the
[5:32] way of hills around here. So,
[5:34] >> yeah, I remember one year the uh when I
[5:37] was on the uh Lions Club, we bought a
[5:40] dozen [clears throat] slits. I'm not
[5:42] sure if they were plastic. I think there
[5:43] were plastic ones and they would use
[5:46] them on the little hill out the door
[5:47] over there a little bit, but that would
[5:49] be even better over over there now. So,
[5:52] >> yeah. Well, we had a parent who donated
[5:54] sleds and
[5:55] >> that was sort of what
[5:56] >> Lola was saying, you know, a long time
[5:58] ago they came and they built a hill and
[6:00] like we've got plenty of snow now. So,
[6:02] >> Oh, yeah.
[6:03] >> Garrett came right down and asked what
[6:04] we wanted and the next morning they were
[6:06] here building a mountain.
[6:09] >> Wow. That's good. Got a lot of snow to
[6:11] build that.
[6:12] >> Yeah.
[6:13] And that's it.
[6:14] >> Okay. Uh public comment.
[6:20] » Okay.
[6:22] Uh unfinished business.
[6:26] We'll continue discussion.
[6:32] » All right.
[6:34] >> I'm sorry. One second. Unfort Did you
[6:37] print the Is this a revised one from the
[6:40] last time? This is new. Did we Wait. Did
[6:42] we print any or?
[6:43] >> No. Okay.
[6:44] >> No. So, I'm gonna email it out to the
[6:46] group after the meeting and then I will
[6:48] have Raquel print one that you can have
[6:50] for yourself. Do you want a print copy,
[6:52] too?
[6:52] >> That would be great. Thank you.
[6:53] >> Yeah, that's fine.
[6:54] >> Perfect. Thanks.
[6:55] >> Okay. So, some of this is repeat from
[6:57] last month. I'm going to go over what we
[6:59] talked about in January and then we're
[7:00] going to talk about um what the changes
[7:03] potentially are. Oops.
[7:06] Why isn't it
[7:10] There we go. All right. So, in January,
[7:12] we talked about the level service budget
[7:14] first. So, we're going to review that
[7:16] now. Uh with the level service budget,
[7:18] we're basically taking all of the
[7:19] programming, staffing, and services we
[7:21] provide to our students in the current
[7:23] year and putting it into the new year to
[7:26] start with. Uh we take into
[7:28] consideration any increased costs that
[7:30] are based on level services, which is
[7:31] primarily related to wages. So any
[7:34] contractual wage obligations as well as
[7:37] adjustments for non-wage expenditures
[7:39] that we anticipate. Um insurance in
[7:42] particular is going to come up this year
[7:44] as a topic, but also looking at our
[7:46] transportation contracts and things like
[7:47] that to um ensure that we have adequate
[7:50] funding. So that put us at an initial
[7:53] discussion of 8.96%
[7:55] for level service going into fiscal year
[7:58] 27. You can see the budget total for
[8:01] general fund is 2.4. 4 almost 2.5
[8:04] million and about $23,000
[8:07] increase over fiscal year 26. We're
[8:10] going to break that down a little bit
[8:11] further in the next few slides and take
[8:13] a closer look at what's that that is
[8:15] comprised of. Last month in January, I
[8:18] talked about these expense categories.
[8:20] So, these are classified by Desi. They
[8:23] put each of our expenditures into these
[8:25] different pots. um this column that says
[8:28] FY26 shows the total of each of those
[8:31] categories from the prior year and then
[8:33] what we're proposing in the new year and
[8:35] then you can see the budget growth here.
[8:38] Um all of these categories with the
[8:40] exception of benefits and insurance has
[8:43] some type of wage associated with it.
[8:46] Benefits and insurance is exactly what
[8:48] it sounds like. There really shouldn't
[8:49] be any wages there. [clears throat]
[8:51] Looking at that a little bit closer,
[8:54] um non-wage growth presents in the
[8:56] budget, uh which again is about a
[8:58] $23,000 overall increase. So about
[9:01] 67,000 of that is not wage is not wage
[9:05] related. So $37,000 increase on
[9:09] transportation, which is not actually an
[9:12] increase on our costs outside of our
[9:14] cola, which is only 2 and a.5% on our
[9:17] current contract. However, when we look
[9:19] at level services, we look at revolving
[9:21] funds and grants. And rural aid is not a
[9:24] stable funding source for us. In the
[9:27] current year of 26, we are using rural
[9:29] aid to help offset our transportation
[9:31] costs. So, when I do that first pass of
[9:33] the budget, we add that back in as if
[9:35] that funding source didn't exist. The
[9:37] benefits and insurance is a true
[9:39] increase in the new year. So, our health
[9:42] insurance for the town of Wheatley,
[9:44] which is not taken into consideration
[9:46] here, but the town also saw that
[9:48] increase. Um, and Frontier's insurance
[9:50] went up as of October 1st as well. There
[9:53] was a 20% change and we have budgeted a
[9:56] 20% increase for fiscal year 27. So,
[9:58] these are true costs and it's hitting
[10:01] double in the budget in 27 because it's
[10:03] unbudgeted in fiscal year 26. So, we're
[10:06] going to have to recoup that money in
[10:08] the current year and then it gets added
[10:10] to the new budget. So, that is an actual
[10:12] increased expenditure.
[10:14] So, the remaining percentage um comes
[10:17] into wages. So, wage growth is about
[10:19] $100,000 of the 203,000.
[10:23] You can see the breakdown here of
[10:24] non-union to union. So, non-union staff
[10:27] um is anyone that's building base that's
[10:29] not on a contract. So, secretaries, uh,
[10:32] cafeteria, custodial, um, anyone that
[10:35] falls in those sort of hourly positions
[10:37] and then administrative contracts as
[10:39] well. And that considers anyone who's on
[10:42] a stated contract or anyone who's up for
[10:44] renewal um, to be negotiated. It also
[10:47] includes central office administrators
[10:49] and then your principal in this
[10:50] building. Um so it could be you know
[10:53] facilities directors taken into
[10:54] consideration IT superintendent business
[10:57] office um principal and so on. On the
[11:01] right hand side of this slide you can
[11:02] see the union increase which is
[11:04] primarily stemming from uh unit A
[11:07] changes. Uh unit C are down although
[11:10] that's really because we're not taking
[11:13] advantage of an IIA that we added last
[11:15] year. We ended up not needing that extra
[11:17] position. So that's been removed from
[11:18] the budget. um which is why they're
[11:20] seeing a decrease. But you can see the
[11:22] breakdown of the cola. Top step gets 4%
[11:25] in the new year. Everyone else who's not
[11:27] stepping is seeing 3% plus their step.
[11:30] And then we have teachers who have
[11:32] advanced their degree. So they're going
[11:33] to see column movement which changes
[11:35] their overall percentage increase. All
[11:38] of our IAS are moving up. Uh we added a
[11:41] new step is 2 and a half and then the
[11:43] step equals 3%. And we did add in
[11:46] $10,000 for summer stipens. Um, I think
[11:49] we talked about this a little bit last
[11:50] month, but just as a quick refresher,
[11:52] Weightley has not had summer programming
[11:54] here at the school in several years.
[11:56] Students that needed services were going
[11:58] over to Deerfield. That changed this
[12:00] past summer and we did have students and
[12:02] staff on the ground. So, we need to
[12:04] account for that in the new budget year.
[12:06] There's one more piece of the puzzle for
[12:08] Weightley that we've separated out into
[12:10] a different slide and that is our sick
[12:12] buyback which is a contractual
[12:14] obligation for anyone who's being paid
[12:16] out retirement payments. Um, and that is
[12:19] estimated at about 40,000 for next year.
[12:22] That equals 1.77%
[12:24] of the 8.96 growth that we're seeing.
[12:27] Historically, the town has funded this
[12:29] type of expenditure under a separate
[12:31] warrant article or with an alternative
[12:34] funding source. When the town was
[12:36] receiving ARPA money which was related
[12:37] to COVID, they helped us in those years
[12:40] pay for this expenditure out of that
[12:42] type of funding. Um, but as a starting
[12:44] point, we do look at it because if the
[12:46] town didn't have another pot of money to
[12:48] pull that from, uh, we would have to
[12:50] incorporate it and it is technically a
[12:52] school expense. However, they pay for
[12:54] it. It's still a cost for school
[12:56] expenditures.
[12:58] [clears throat]
[12:59] So, just to bring us back and recap, um
[13:02] about 203,000 over the current year, uh
[13:05] just shy of 9% level service budget
[13:07] increase. Breaking that down, non-wage
[13:10] expense, wage expense, and then that
[13:12] additional 40,000 for sick buyback. So,
[13:15] that's what's comprising the 8.96.
[13:18] Any questions before I keep going?
[13:21] Great.
[13:22] So we're going to look at our total
[13:24] budget which will include revolving
[13:26] funds and grants and then what the cost
[13:27] to educate based on our current
[13:29] enrollment. So grants and revolving
[13:31] funds here you can see there's actually
[13:34] demonstrating in this slide a decrease
[13:36] from fiscal year 26 and that is because
[13:38] we're not using rural aid yet in this
[13:40] level service budget. So you can see
[13:42] rural aid is in here at zero. Um whoops
[13:46] I went I had to I don't know if I can go
[13:48] backwards. Can I Darius?
[13:51] Yes, I can. You've been controlling this
[13:54] for me. So, I know I know I jumped right
[13:56] on.
[13:58] >> Um, [clears throat] so all of the other
[14:00] increases in these funding sources is
[14:03] strictly uh wage related. So, you can
[14:05] see there's minimal growth in each of
[14:06] the categories. That just accounts for
[14:08] any staff that are paying from those
[14:10] other funding sources and their cola or
[14:12] step increases.
[14:14] So, what does that look like for our
[14:16] total budget? So top line shows general
[14:18] fund, then we have revolving funds, and
[14:20] then our overall total budget, which is
[14:22] that $2.95 million.
[14:26] Breaking that down per student at 141
[14:29] students, which does include our school
[14:31] choice enrollment, we're just shy of
[14:33] $21,000 per student on our level service
[14:36] budget.
[14:39] Next, we're going to talk about
[14:40] principal requests.
[14:43] So each of our principles as part of the
[14:45] budgeting process gets to have input as
[14:48] to new needs or initiatives in the
[14:50] building. Uh the request is minimal at
[14:53] Weightley when you look at the dollar
[14:54] amount of 12,000, but it's also at the
[14:56] same time a half a percentage point. So
[14:57] it does have some impact on our budget.
[15:00] So uh we are requesting $3,000
[15:02] additional for the current uh certified
[15:05] occupational therapy assistant to
[15:07] increase OT services for our students.
[15:10] That bumps that position up from 5 hours
[15:13] a week to seven hours a week, which is
[15:14] one full day. So, it's currently not one
[15:16] full day a week. And then we had a
[15:18] request for $9,000 under general
[15:21] supplies and textbooks, which is
[15:23] primarily consumables. Um, one in part
[15:26] because of our new curriculum. Um, and
[15:29] then also the cost of supplies is going
[15:31] up. So, we added some increased funds
[15:33] there. Uh, you can see that brought our
[15:35] total budget to 9.49% 49% or almost
[15:38] $215,000
[15:40] over
[15:40] >> the textbook specific subject area like
[15:43] replacing
[15:44] >> ELA and math geta
[15:46] >> they've got consumables for both of
[15:48] those.
[15:50] >> All right. So from here the next piece
[15:53] that we're going to talk about are
[15:54] administrative recommendations to reduce
[15:56] the budget. It feels like um 9.49% 49%.
[16:01] While we have some minimal needs, the
[16:03] level service budget really needed some
[16:05] attention to try to bring down those
[16:07] numbers. Um, we brought in a pretty high
[16:10] budget last year and a little bit high
[16:12] budget the year before, which we're
[16:14] going to review a in a few slides moving
[16:16] forward. Um, but we felt like to be
[16:18] fiscally responsible and try to balance
[16:21] the town's uh various pots of money and
[16:24] how much the school is being funded with
[16:26] town funds that we wanted to make some
[16:28] recommendations to reduce the budget at
[16:30] this point.
[16:32] There um reductions that don't have a
[16:35] significant impact on the budget. So, we
[16:37] are recommending applying rural aid. Our
[16:40] rural aid did come down slightly from
[16:42] the prior year, but it's about $32,000,
[16:45] which is over one percentage point. So,
[16:48] we have added that into the um
[16:50] configuration of our revolving funds and
[16:52] grants. We are recommending that we pull
[16:55] off the $9,000 for curriculum needs that
[16:59] we requested, but that we keep in the
[17:02] 3,000 for KOD because that is student
[17:04] specific and we need to meet the needs
[17:05] of our IEPs. And then we are
[17:08] recommending that we propose the sick
[17:10] buyback be paid under a separate warrant
[17:12] request by the town.
[17:15] So none [clears throat] of these
[17:16] recommendations at this point have any
[17:18] changes to um staffing, student
[17:22] services, or programming. It's really
[17:24] just looking at our other pots of money
[17:26] and where we can sort of tighten things
[17:27] up a little bit. So with those changes,
[17:30] it's about a 3% change. So it would
[17:32] bring our general fund budget which
[17:34] still is essentially level service
[17:36] funded to 5.95% which is about 135,000
[17:40] over the prior year
[17:44] questions about that.
[17:47] Okay. So next we're going to look at
[17:49] some historical information and then
[17:51] just some uh timelines and things like
[17:54] that. So historically
[17:56] um outside of 2020 our budgets in the
[17:59] years following that you can see were
[18:02] you [clears throat] know what I think is
[18:04] reasonable that 2.5 to 3.5%
[18:07] um about a 50 to $60,000 increase a year
[18:10] for the town that felt like you know we
[18:13] were in a good spot. Towns didn't ask us
[18:15] to reduce and we were getting what we
[18:17] needed.
[18:18] >> Um 25 and 26 the story is a little bit
[18:21] different. Uh we had a level service
[18:23] increase in 25 but our transportation
[18:26] contract went out for bid and renewal
[18:28] and there was significant growth there.
[18:30] So you can see we came out at 5.57%
[18:34] in fiscal year 25. You can see the big
[18:36] jump what that means dollar-wise.
[18:38] Sometimes the dollar dollars are more
[18:40] important to look at than the percentage
[18:43] um because the town doesn't necessarily
[18:44] have a lot of new revenue growth to help
[18:47] us cover this expense. Last year we went
[18:50] in with a 10.11% budget and it was um
[18:54] supported by the select board and
[18:55] finance committee and did get through
[18:57] annual town meeting. You can see it's
[18:59] about $28,000
[19:01] over fiscal year 25. There were many
[19:04] factors attributing here. It was a level
[19:07] service budget. We added an IIA based on
[19:10] anticipated one-to-one needs for
[19:12] students in the building. And then uh in
[19:15] the prior year we had added a half-time
[19:17] math interventionist position and used
[19:20] esser funding which was available during
[19:22] co uh esser funding closed out and that
[19:25] was no longer available. So that added
[19:27] $40,000 to our budget because we wanted
[19:29] to continue on with that position.
[19:31] >> How long is the transportation contract
[19:34] for?
[19:34] >> It's a 5-year renewal. Um currently the
[19:38] only growth would be 2 and a half% based
[19:40] on cola.
[19:42] So [clears throat] we won't see that
[19:43] big.
[19:43] >> They did a bump in the first year and
[19:45] then two and a half after that. So we
[19:47] got hit in the first year.
[19:48] >> Yeah. Wheatly I mean all the
[19:49] elementarymentaries got hit where the
[19:51] high school really didn't get hit with
[19:54] the new transportation.
[19:56] >> I mean we it was significant for us. I
[19:58] mean
[20:00] >> it was significant for [clears throat]
[20:02] pretty much everybody outside of
[20:04] Frontier. Frontier had
[20:06] >> um [clears throat]
[20:07] >> is there much competition with contracts
[20:09] or
[20:10] >> No. Zero. I was going to say
[20:12] >> one. Yeah. I mean, we put it out, but
[20:16] >> um Grio was the only bid received,
[20:18] >> but to be fair, they are at market
[20:19] value. So, you know, it's not like
[20:21] they're um we're still less than our
[20:25] northern Franklin County what they're
[20:26] paying per day per bus.
[20:28] >> Um but so when they made a market
[20:30] adjustment, it was a fair market
[20:32] adjustment of what other people are
[20:34] paying in the area. So, um, so they're
[20:37] not you're not take I don't want to put
[20:39] a bad name out there for them in the
[20:40] sense of that they're not gouging us
[20:42] because they can. They're keeping it at
[20:44] what is reasonable, but their costs are
[20:46] going up and so Okay. Yeah. So,
[20:50] >> I would say it's fair. I mean, we always
[20:51] wanted to be cheaper and make it more
[20:53] fair for us, but it was a fair overall
[20:56] on their end.
[20:57] >> Yep. [clears throat]
[20:58] >> Um, the next slide and shows you
[21:00] enrollment data. This is just based on
[21:02] projected kindergarten and preschooler
[21:05] estimates. You can see the total there
[21:06] at the bottom, 138, roughly the same
[21:09] amount of students. We're at 141. We
[21:12] could hit that same number depending on
[21:13] what happens with school choice. So, um,
[21:15] we're seeing, you know, sort of stagnant
[21:18] enrollment, not growth or decline at
[21:20] this point.
[21:22] >> And
[21:22] >> how many how many applications did we
[21:24] get for kindergarten
[21:26] >> so far? It's early. Um,
[21:28] >> yeah, I I was curious curious. I mean
[21:31] that
[21:32] >> we have um five applications and
[21:36] six anticipated openings for school
[21:39] choice for kindergarten [clears throat]
[21:42] >> and you know your number is going out I
[21:44] mean it's next year so what's the number
[21:46] going out for school choice?
[21:48] >> Oh for your sixth graders
[21:50] >> to pull that number are we paying for
[21:52] someone
[21:53] >> No what is our sixth graders going out
[21:56] >> eight. So [snorts] we're going to take a
[21:58] small loss there. No, it's always been
[22:00] my goal to try and
[22:02] >> You try to keep it level. Yeah.
[22:03] >> Yeah, we'll try to keep it level because
[22:04] we really don't want to lose any more
[22:06] school choice um revenue or students,
[22:09] but it'll just be a matter of what other
[22:11] grade levels you get applications for?
[22:13] >> Yeah.
[22:14] >> You don't have any projections on birth
[22:16] rates and
[22:17] >> survival or anything like that?
[22:19] >> We do. Um
[22:20] >> down the road. So based on the census
[22:25] um we can look and see that there are 12
[22:28] weight residents who will be eligible to
[22:30] come to kindergarten. So that's
[22:32] >> for next for next year.
[22:33] >> For next year that's where my um my
[22:36] number of six uh school choice openings
[22:39] comes from. Okay.
[22:40] >> That we wouldn't want to make that class
[22:43] much larger than 18. But
[22:45] >> but can you look beyond that? Say two
[22:48] years down the road, three years. Do
[22:49] they have that data?
[22:50] >> Yeah. accuracy by the time they they get
[22:53] here is a little bit off. Last year it
[22:54] was quite a bit off. The census um did
[22:57] not include [clears throat] there were
[22:58] five or six surprises.
[23:00] >> Yeah.
[23:01] >> Good surprises.
[23:01] >> A small number. It wouldn't take much to
[23:03] shift it.
[23:04] >> Yeah.
[23:04] It's exactly that. It just hasn't
[23:06] been dependable because it's the numbers
[23:08] are so small.
[23:09] >> You know what I mean? Like you know when
[23:11] >> a couple feeling go you know they want
[23:13] to go to private or if they you moved in
[23:15] town, moved out of town, you know that
[23:16] you know we just don't have that. Okay.
[23:18] So,
[23:21] >> all right. So, the last slide uh just is
[23:24] sort of next steps and some reminders.
[23:27] Uh 1% budget increase is almost $23,000.
[23:31] Uh level service plus principal was
[23:34] 9.49. The reduced budget, which is
[23:36] actually not reducing any programs or
[23:38] staffing, but instead looking at other
[23:41] funding sources for some of our
[23:42] expenditures, brought us down to 5.95.
[23:46] and we will request that sick buyback on
[23:48] a separate warrant for the town. And
[23:50] then I just listed out future meetings
[23:52] so that you can see what the timeline
[23:54] looks like. And what I will say is that
[23:57] Wheatly has time to make decisions. Um
[24:00] the town did request a meeting with us.
[24:02] Is that just with finance or is it
[24:04] finance and select board?
[24:05] >> It's joint. Yeah.
[24:06] >> Okay. [clears throat] So that is on the
[24:08] 25th at 5:00 pm at the town office with
[24:11] town officials.
[24:12] >> So we will post that because it's a
[24:14] joint meeting. So we'll post that for
[24:16] you folks as well. So
[24:18] >> technically we are scheduled for the
[24:20] public hearing on March 7th and then our
[24:23] budget vote on March 26th. However, if
[24:25] we weren't ready for either of those
[24:27] pieces, meetings could be changed and
[24:29] you know we could continue discussion
[24:31] into April given that town meeting is
[24:33] not until June. So that's a hugely
[24:35] beneficial move I think in regards to
[24:37] the elementary budget for us to have
[24:39] more time um
[24:41] >> between the 7th and the 26th. Is that
[24:43] what you're thinking? more time for
[24:45] >> well I'm just saying if we needed to
[24:47] continue talking in April we could do
[24:49] that we don't have to be set to
[24:52] >> what's when how many days ahead do we
[24:54] have to put the warrant
[24:55] >> so that's what I was about to say so
[24:56] Dave the way it works in in
[24:59] there sorry but the is that the um
[25:02] whatever you put on the public hearing
[25:05] you can't go up from that number so
[25:09] whatever number we go to public hearing
[25:10] on in March you can reduce the bud
[25:13] budget actual public hearing, but you
[25:14] can't increase it. That's the way the
[25:16] Massachusetts law works. Or you have to
[25:18] repost the public hearing and have
[25:19] another public hearing. Um, which is,
[25:21] you know, it's a small fee because you
[25:22] got to put in the paper and that kind of
[25:23] stuff. So, it's not the end of the world
[25:24] if we had to do that. But, so we might
[25:27] go to public hearing with this higher
[25:28] number
[25:30] >> and have basically have the same
[25:31] conversation we just had right now as a
[25:33] public hearing. And then if the town's
[25:35] saying you need to reduce that, then we
[25:37] reduce that afterwards. So, um, but we
[25:40] do have more time. Um when we go into
[25:42] frontier are you about the Woodies?
[25:45] >> I only to wrap up I just wanted to make
[25:47] sure that everyone um school committee
[25:49] wise was okay with the 5.95% going into
[25:52] the meeting with the town um and the
[25:55] reductions that we've made. So pulling
[25:56] off the 40,000 of the sick buyback to
[25:58] warrant applying our rural aid and then
[26:01] eliminating the 9,000 for consumables
[26:05] for curriculum and textbooks.
[26:07] It's your budget. So we've made the
[26:09] recommendations. I've done the math, but
[26:11] I want to make sure that we're
[26:13] comfortable with that number.
[26:14] >> Is there any grants out [clears throat]
[26:15] there for textbooks?
[26:18] >> Yeah, I mean, we're going to look into
[26:19] it.
[26:19] >> Okay. I'm just
[26:20] >> We're always
[26:21] >> If we need them, we, you know,
[26:23] >> Yeah, we It's not as if taking those off
[26:26] means that we're not going to get them.
[26:28] We just have to look at what's
[26:30] available.
[26:30] >> Okay. Um it is one of those things if
[26:33] you're having a reoccurring expense
[26:34] every year now with a new curriculum
[26:36] it's best to put it in the budget as
[26:37] best practice rather than stealing or
[26:40] depending on those other things but um
[26:42] you know we do have some other pools
[26:43] grant monies that we could use for
[26:45] curriculum stuff you know um that we've
[26:47] used for other things. So um for example
[26:51] we have a um what am I thinking of rural
[26:55] it's not rural aid it's
[26:56] >> ree
[26:58] which comes from the federal government
[26:59] for rural schools from at the federal
[27:00] level and we usually use that toward PD
[27:03] and then we'll take a couple thousand
[27:04] out of that PD line from there and then
[27:07] have to change what we're doing for
[27:08] program to pay for those material. So
[27:09] there's other ways of moving it around.
[27:11] It's just it's best practices is put in
[27:13] the budget what you're spending.
[27:15] A
[27:15] >> and alternatively, if we felt like we
[27:17] wanted to make that shift, it is if it
[27:19] is going to be a recurring expense, we
[27:21] could add the 9,000 back in and present
[27:23] that to
[27:24] >> to the town.
[27:25] >> Yeah. I try to keep that number under
[27:27] six, though.
[27:27] >> That's right. That putting that in
[27:30] [clears throat]
[27:30] >> it will put us over six. So, it'll be
[27:32] like
[27:32] >> 6.02 or 6
[27:36] 08. you know, it's not huge, but I think
[27:38] the, you know, just optics of it,
[27:43] >> the uh 20 uh March 20 Yeah, March 26
[27:46] meeting, is that just a vote?
[27:50] >> Yeah,
[27:51] >> as it stands right now, yes, it is just
[27:53] a vote.
[27:55] >> Can we do it? I know Frontier last year,
[27:58] we did it a day apart from our public
[28:00] hearing and voting on the budget.
[28:02] >> So, so Frontier is very different. So,
[28:05] Frontier has to vote the budget 45 days
[28:08] out from the first town meeting. And the
[28:10] first town meeting is in Sunderland
[28:12] during
[28:13] vacation week. It's the only way I know
[28:15] what week it is. Is that like really?
[28:17] >> Friday of vacation.
[28:18] >> The Friday of vacation week. Um, so it's
[28:20] like the 22nd or something like that.
[28:22] >> 28th, I think.
[28:24] >> Or is it later than that? It's the 24th.
[28:28] So, we back our budget out.
[28:31] Frontier budget gets backed out 45 days.
[28:34] We put a couple buffer days in and then
[28:36] we made both the hearing and the voting
[28:38] that same week. And that's why we did
[28:40] that. So,
[28:40] >> okay.
[28:41] >> Realistically, what weight could do is
[28:44] not do a double meeting in the month of
[28:46] March.
[28:47] >> Put it on the
[28:48] >> April.
[28:49] Well, April is a joint meeting.
[28:51] Um, you could even put on the May
[28:52] agenda,
[28:54] you know, especially if you know,
[28:56] especially if we're in communication
[28:57] with the town that we're not moving it.
[29:00] You know what I mean? You understand
[29:01] what I'm saying? Like,
[29:02] >> but we won't be do we won't be doing
[29:04] anything different because we already
[29:07] had our public meeting. We can't go up.
[29:09] >> We can always go down,
[29:10] >> right? And so, as they figure out, the
[29:14] more time helps because we start to see
[29:17] kindergarten enrollment starts to become
[29:18] more real. School choice enrollment
[29:20] starts to become more real. Although
[29:23] those numbers are not going to sometimes
[29:25] we're looking at enrollment, we're like,
[29:26] "Oh, we're going to have to do we have
[29:28] too many or we have to split a class or
[29:30] you know that you know those kind of
[29:31] things." That's not happening in this
[29:32] budget. So it is
[29:33] >> you're right there's probably no reason
[29:35] to delay. Um but you do have that option
[29:37] is what I'm saying like and the most
[29:39] important thing is that the town knows
[29:41] where we're coming in at.
[29:42] [clears throat] And so after we have
[29:44] this meeting with them in two weeks, you
[29:47] know, we'll be able to see they'll be
[29:48] able to show us hopefully, you know,
[29:50] what their revenues are. They're not
[29:52] going to look at percentage, they're
[29:53] going to look at their overall costs,
[29:54] right? They will also have Frontier's
[29:56] number at that time. So Frontier is a
[29:58] meeting tonight. You know, obviously
[30:00] Shel and I have, you know, information
[30:02] behind the scenes in the sense of what
[30:03] we're going to be presenting um to where
[30:06] it could end up. If Frontier ends up to
[30:08] where we're kind of projecting it,
[30:10] Wheatly is not going to get a big hit.
[30:12] So they're going to have I would say an
[30:15] acceptable range for the for the
[30:18] secondary which will help with the
[30:19] elementary being a slightly higher if
[30:21] that makes sense. But the frontier I
[30:23] mean I can't project I can't give you
[30:24] the numbers because they have to vote
[30:26] that out and they got to approve there's
[30:27] reductions involved and that kind of
[30:28] stuff. So they're going to have to
[30:30] approve that. But um
[30:33] the way it looks is that frontier will
[30:34] not be um its assessment will not be so high that it makes the elementary
[30:40] have to offset the is working and vice
[30:42] versa for this community. Other
[30:44] communities are [clears throat]
[30:45] different. So um because the assessment
[30:47] changes from community to community
[30:51] >> if that makes sense.
[30:52] >> You want to do you have value thin outs?
[30:54] >> Nope.
[30:54] >> Oh I thought I thought something about
[30:56] frontier. I said I was just I was only
[30:59] saying that
[31:00] >> you know again Frontiers tonight and
[31:02] that you know that their assessment
[31:03] could be um you know if if it all they
[31:06] follow recommendations to move forward
[31:08] on that
[31:08] >> which you'll be a part of um it should it should help kind of
[31:13] balance out the overall schools budget.
[31:16] >> Sounds good.
[31:17] >> Okay. Some new business. Vote on some
[31:21] school choice
[31:23] slots spaces.
[31:25] You said six.
[31:27] >> Um, no, six for kindergarten.
[31:30] >> Okay.
[31:30] >> And I think, don't we just vote whether
[31:33] or not we want to?
[31:34] >> So, essentially, so just again to um
[31:37] keep David up to speed here. So, school choice in Massachusetts, they
[31:41] require school committee to annually
[31:42] vote to be a school choice school. Okay.
[31:45] Some communities the the uh the uh
[31:48] school committee will get so much and
[31:50] approve what's going to happen, what
[31:52] grade level. We basically ask for a
[31:55] school choice and then Chrissy gives the
[31:57] presentation of where she sees
[31:59] possibility
[32:00] um but leave some discretion to the
[32:02] principal because we get down to such
[32:04] finite numbers where I got two kids who
[32:06] left you know you know moved out can I
[32:08] take two more you know so we we say
[32:11] based on the information provided at the
[32:13] discretion of the principal um to create
[32:15] those final numbers um and so and then
[32:18] it goes to a based on the amount of
[32:20] applicants will go to a lottery system
[32:22] um if a lottery system if it's the
[32:25] demand is higher than the the
[32:26] placements. So um so tonight we are
[32:30] looking so I was going to try to bring
[32:32] up that so they can see that. Um
[32:34] >> do you have it?
[32:35] >> Did you bring it was a part of the
[32:37] packet?
[32:37] >> I don't think so.
[32:39] >> Can you just share it with me right now?
[32:40] Is on your screen?
[32:40] >> Amy's got it. I'll have her share it.
[32:43] >> Okay.
[32:45] All right. So why don't you just kind of
[32:47] go through then just verbally give kind
[32:49] of an overview of what you're looking
[32:50] at.
[32:54] She shared this with me.
[33:12] » There's some textbooks right there. That
[33:15] >> is true.
[33:17] >> Could be used for that. I just sent it
[33:18] to you.
[33:20] >> [clears throat]
[33:21] >> Give me one second. We're moving files
[33:24] around.
[33:29] » So, last year, um, we had to change our
[33:34] what we thought we were going to be able
[33:35] to accept for kindergarten school choice
[33:37] because the census was so off, um, that
[33:41] we we ended up not being able to have
[33:44] any school choice in kindergarten. And
[33:47] that hurts because people typically are
[33:49] looking
[33:51] um
[33:51] >> long term.
[33:52] >> Yeah. To to make that um decision for
[33:55] kindergarten. So they'd stay here
[33:58] throughout.
[34:01] >> Um so
[34:03] kindergarten remains the class that will
[34:05] have the biggest uh school choice
[34:07] openings. Um kindergarten can be tricky
[34:10] because we also want to account for the
[34:13] level of need within any given class.
[34:16] um which is sort of how we get to the
[34:18] target size. Um
[34:22] first grade has no openings because
[34:24] that's the current kindergarten. Um then
[34:26] we've got one to two openings in second,
[34:29] third, and fifth and sixth grade. Um
[34:33] the total anticipated would be 10 to 15
[34:35] for the school. And as Darius mentioned,
[34:38] we've got eight sixth graders who are leaving.
[34:44] Sorry.
[34:45] >> Looking at one screen trying to use my
[34:46] mouse on it.
[34:47] >> Let's get [snorts] on the other one. So,
[34:54] » so basically what it looks like on the
[34:55] right, we have eight openings probably
[35:01] for school choice. If that if it's 131
[35:04] and you can do 139
[35:09] number of kids. Now, that's the target
[35:11] size. And you know, when I was going
[35:14] through this with um
[35:16] >> Amy,
[35:18] we try and keep the lower grades at
[35:22] 18. Um,
[35:25] however, depending on how things shake
[35:26] out in other places, we may go up to 20.
[35:29] It would depend on the particular class
[35:31] and also um whether I'm getting close to
[35:35] that.
[35:37] >> When do we have to let
[35:40] any of the school choice kids, you know,
[35:43] are they automatically in? If if you had
[35:45] openings, you are they automatically in
[35:47] or do you call them and say, "Yeah,
[35:49] you've been chosen for kindergarten or
[35:52] first grade or whatever grade?"
[35:54] >> Yeah. So, we'll um the closing for the
[35:58] first round of applications is the last
[36:00] week in March and then we'll be sending
[36:02] out decisions on April 1st. Um
[36:05] [clears throat] what typically happens
[36:07] is if we have a spot and an application
[36:10] then um the child gets the spot. If we
[36:13] have more applications than spots the
[36:15] PTO comes in and they um pull names.
[36:20] >> The uh and also understand that many
[36:23] school choice folks are choosing
[36:25] multiple elementary schools in our
[36:27] district in the 38. So, so sometimes
[36:30] there's there's some shifting going
[36:32] around um you know depending on where
[36:34] they're um so they if they don't get
[36:36] picked up here they can maybe they get
[36:38] picked up in Deerfield or you know that
[36:40] >> the four elementary schools send out
[36:42] decisions on the same day.
[36:43] >> We do it on the same day so they we we
[36:44] don't allow inner fighting.
[36:46] >> Well so so [laughter] a family has all
[36:49] the information right
[36:50] >> they need to make the decision.
[36:52] >> Right. And do they have to get back to
[36:54] you by a certain date too?
[36:56] >> Yes.
[36:56] >> Okay.
[36:59] All right. So, you're looking for a
[37:01] approved to be a school choice school
[37:03] following those principal's
[37:05] recommendations.
[37:06] >> So moved.
[37:07] >> Second.
[37:08] >> All in favor.
[37:11] » Okay.
[37:18] Yankee candle donation.
[37:21] Did we hear about this last time?
[37:22] >> Yeah, I thought that was on there last
[37:23] time.
[37:23] >> So, it was on the report last time, but
[37:26] we hadn't received the check yet. I
[37:27] don't think so. I don't think we voted
[37:30] on it.
[37:31] >> It was in her report. It was not on the
[37:33] agenda. So, it has to be on the agenda
[37:36] for you to formally accept it. So,
[37:38] that's what happened. So, you heard
[37:39] about it, but and Chrissy gave a thank
[37:41] you at the meeting, but you formally
[37:43] have to accept it as the school.
[37:45] >> How much was it? Four
[37:46] >> 4,000.
[37:47] >> Here's some textbooks.
[37:49] >> Could be.
[37:52] >> So moved.
[37:54] >> Second.
[37:54] >> All in favor? Okay.
[37:58] And we have policy KIB or K1B.
[38:02] >> KIB.
[38:03] >> Okay.
[38:03] >> So basically we do not have a policy
[38:06] about classroom visitation for
[38:09] non-special education for parents and
[38:11] guardians. So, um,
[38:14] normally it doesn't happen a lot, but if
[38:17] you know, we would we've been using the
[38:18] special education,
[38:20] um, language for it, but, um,
[38:24] you know, through experience in in
[38:26] another school, we just really need to
[38:28] have kind of clear guidelines of when
[38:30] parents can visit, how they can visit,
[38:32] how they get set up, and what they're
[38:35] allowed to do in the classroom. And so
[38:36] this policy kind of breaks down um you
[38:40] know it breaks down the
[38:44] what they should be doing there how
[38:45] their behavior should be there you know
[38:47] they can't record they can't you know where they sit in the classroom
[38:50] how often they can do it and that kind
[38:52] of thing. So kind of just basically and
[38:53] I took um you know multiple ones from
[38:56] MASC's which you know policy would be
[38:59] found there and I did a this particular
[39:00] one is spells it out very clearly
[39:03] because in this particular policy I have
[39:05] a feeling parents would be reading it
[39:06] more than so I took a little bit more
[39:09] time to kind of outline this is what you
[39:10] can and can't do in the classroom should
[39:12] you be observing um
[39:15] >> do all the elementarymentaries have the
[39:16] same policy or
[39:17] >> exactly okay
[39:19] >> so what h and this is where kind of gets
[39:21] tricky in our district is that. So, I'm
[39:22] bringing this to all
[39:24] >> I'm bringing it to all five committees.
[39:25] If one committee wants to make a change,
[39:27] then I bring it back to all the other
[39:29] five do that kind of stuff. So, um and
[39:31] there's only like one or two in the
[39:32] whole policy handbook where one school
[39:34] is different than the other.
[39:35] [clears throat]
[39:35] Um but for the most part, unless it's,
[39:37] you know, someone sees something that's
[39:39] why we so this today we're doing a
[39:40] reading. So, if you give me, so let's
[39:42] say you find error, you're like doesn't
[39:44] make sense there. Um you let me know and
[39:46] then I bring it to the next meeting and
[39:47] I say, "Oh, you know, I got feedback.
[39:49] This the small changes we're making."
[39:50] So, we try to stay consistent across the
[39:52] board. Legally, you don't have to. You
[39:54] can do say, "No, we're going to do
[39:55] something different." But it
[39:56] >> makes operations so much easier.
[39:58] >> Exactly. Exactly.
[39:59] >> Okay. [clears throat]
[40:01] >> I don't have anything. Uh, how about the
[40:04] collaborative? Anything new there yet?
[40:08] >> Are you the collaborative?
[40:10] >> Do we have you have to do a vote on the
[40:13] first reading or anything?
[40:14] >> No. No. Okay.
[40:15] >> No. So, you just
[40:17] >> Okay. Sorry.
[40:19] So Henry was a collaborative.
[40:21] >> I don't know. Is Henry the
[40:22] collaborative?
[40:23] >> Well, neither one of you have a report
[40:24] then. He certainly knows. [laughter]
[40:27] >> Yeah, but I'm the guy who's not here.
[40:30] >> Yeah, Henry, [clears throat] how come?
[40:31] >> Um, I can just give you the update there
[40:33] is that they are in negotiations for a
[40:36] new they've they got down to their
[40:38] finalists and they're in negotiations
[40:40] for a contract for a new um executive
[40:43] director. That's the most I know about
[40:47] because I hear it at all the other
[40:48] meetings. What's going on?
[40:50] >> Do you have anything for us today?
[40:52] >> Um, nope.
[40:56] >> I don't.
[40:57] >> Okay. Make a motion to journ.
[40:59] >> A second.
[41:00] >> All in favor?